When we experience a mild fever, our instinct is to reach for over-the-counter medication to reduce our temperature and relieve our discomfort. However, new research from the University of Alberta suggests that letting a moderate fever run its course may actually have surprising health benefits.
In this article, we will explore the research findings on the benefits of moderate fever, the mechanisms behind these benefits, and how they can help us strike a balance between treating fever and harnessing the benefits of natural immunity.
The Benefits of Moderate Fever:
The University of Alberta researchers found that moderate fever can help clear infections faster, control inflammation and repair damaged tissue. In their study, fish were given a bacterial infection, and the researchers tracked their behavior and evaluated their immune mechanisms using machine learning. They found that the fish that were allowed to exert a natural fever cleared their bodies of the infection in about seven days, half the time it took for the fish that were not allowed to exert a fever.
Moreover, the fever helped to shut down inflammation and repair tissues that had been injured. This works much like turning off a car after driving it to save energy and prevent additional damage. These findings are consistent with the fact that moderate fever has been evolutionarily conserved across the animal kingdom for 550 million years.
Mechanisms Behind the Benefits of Moderate Fever:
Moderate fever is self-resolving, meaning that the body can induce and shut it down naturally without medication. This is because the mechanisms driving and sustaining fever are shared among animals, including humans. Every animal examined has this biological response to infection, and some species, such as fish, reptiles, and insects, will even risk predation and decrease their reproductive success to move to temperatures in their environments that bring on a natural fever.
Natural fever offers an integrative response that not only activates defenses against infection but also helps control it. The researchers found that untreated moderate fever helped fish clear their bodies of infection rapidly, controlled inflammation, and repaired damaged tissue. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect similar benefits to happen in humans, although more research is needed to confirm the health advantages of natural fever to humans.
The Drawbacks of NSAIDs:
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are commonly used to treat fever, but they may take away the discomfort felt with fever, which is a natural response to infection. Moreover, they can also diminish the benefits of this natural response. According to the University of Alberta researchers, it is better to resist reaching for over-the-counter fever medications at the first signs of a mild temperature and let nature do what it does best.
Finding a Balance:
The findings of this research could also help veterinarians and livestock producers manage illness in animals more efficiently. They can take advantage of this natural fever response and the tools generated by the researchers to identify animals that are sick or that may need a vaccination booster. Focusing on a subset of the population saves time and is less costly.
Ultimately, the goal is to determine how to take advantage of medical advances while continuing to harness the benefits of natural mechanisms of immunity. In the long term, striking a healthy balance between treating fever and benefiting from it is key.
In conclusion, allowing a moderate fever to run its course may have surprising health benefits, such as clearing infections faster, controlling inflammation, and repairing damaged tissue. Natural fever offers an integrative response that activates defenses against infection and helps control it. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may take away the discomfort of fever but can also diminish its benefits. More research is needed to confirm the health advantages of natural fever to humans, but the findings of this research could help veterinarians and livestock producers manage illness in animals more efficiently. Striking a healthy balance between treating fever and benefiting from natural mechanisms of immunity.
